<p>I tried to send you a PM with a specific name/reference but your box was full. Hopefully others have already given you the same name (which is well known to long-time CC regulars).</p>
<p>I agree that those who feel that this particular college counselor would be worse than no counselor at all. I'm not sure that you need a counselor, but to the extent you do -- you need someone who will be direct about communications and will listen to your needs before she starts talking. Keep in mind that most parents and families don't know about CC and so they may be very willing to pay this counselor for her "valuable information" -- but if all she did was tell you, s..l..o..w..l..y, stuff that you alread know, then her knowledge is not valuable to you and should not be paid for. If you work with her you will find yourself getting charged for more stuff that you already know, and your frustration level will increase.</p>
<p>I did not work with college counselors with my kids and I am quite confident that everything I needed to know was readily available or on line. CC is wonderful because even when you don't know something, all you have to do is start a thread in the Parents area or the areas for the specific schools you are interested in and someone is bound to come along and tell you. There are a lot of parents here who have kids with various disabilities or medical issues, and they may be very knowledgeable in how to handle your particular problems.</p>
<p>There is NO specific educational requirement to be a college admissions counselor - any one who thinks they can do it can simply announce that they are in business and start taking clients. Of course many counselors do have extensive experience, training and credentials -- and I am sure that those that are well-qualified aren't too happy when they have to compete with those who don't. But again, the fact that this counselor is "well-recommended" is meaningless.</p>
<p>Also, along the way with my daughter, who had some different but unusual issues, I corresponded with a very well known and highly qualified admissions counselor, and quickly realized that she knew less than I did about issues such as testing accommodations and which colleges would accept ACT in lieu of SAT IIs. She also gave me very bad advice which we disregarded (i.e., that my daughter would no chance of admissions at the college that ended up accepting her, due to my d's relatively poor test scores). I don't fault the counselor -- my d. had an unusual profile and the counselor usually works with a different type of clientele. But that's precisely the point: unless a counselor has specific experience working with students with issues like yours, she may end up steering you wrong. In my own case, I had done enough research to see my way around the "expert" opinion -- you can do the same if you want.</p>
<p>If you do use a counselor, I think you would be much better off with one who gives you the specific help you need and charges ONLY for that. For example, if you need help finding colleges that will be supportive of your medical issues and will be flexible in evaluating your transcript and GPA in light of the medical proble... then you don't want to also be paying for information about which tests to take or help writing your essays. </p>
<p>You should also consider whether you would be better off working with a counselor who charges a package price for a certain level of services, or one who charges by the hour. I would suggest that you start by figuring out how much you are willing to pay and what you want or expect for that money. If your expectations are unrealistic, then you will find out soon enough -- but you will end up shopping more wisely if you have taken that first step. </p>
<p>And talk to SEVERAL counselors, including ones outside your area, to get a sense of what different ones charge for services. That will also help keep things in perspective, and protect you against being ripped off.</p>